Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Book Store Closures.
Recently, many big name bookstores have been shutting down. In my home town, all the Borders are now closed and yesterday when I went to Barnes and Noble, I found out that the local store is going to be closing as well. As I was walking through the store all I could think about was where the movement of books, bookstores and reading in general was moving toward. With all these new devices such as nooks, i pad, etc, we will now get to enjoy books from a screen and not get the enjoyment of flipping the pages of an actual book. It made me kind of upset and curious. I personally have always enjoyed the act of going to a bookstore to find a good read, especially when I was younger. I like being able to look at the book, look inside the book and just hold the book in general, and now with everything going electronic I realize that not only am I not going to be able to search for books for much longer in this manner, but future generations will also be robbed of the experience of bookstores. I wonder how and if this electronic push will affect future generations, will young children be reading more? less? at all for enjoyment? And how do people feel about nooks and these electronic methods of reading books? Personally I could never see myself at the beach with a screen in my hand reading but that could be the future. I also wonder how in particular it will affect children's literature. With picture books being the basis of many children's initial grasp to literacy, how will the (no longer) ease of bookstores affect these children? Needless to say, it was a thought provoking trip to the bookstore...
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I am not a big reader and do not have much experience in bookstores, but I have noticed the lack of them in my community as well. I am unsure about how I feel about the Nooks, Kindles, I Pads, etc because I know people who really enjoy reading on them, but I also know some children who have them and they never get used. They end up reading a real book instead. I know that one of the technological devices now has a feature where you do actually “turn the page”, although it is done by touching the screen and dragging your finger. It does make me wonder if children in ten years will never be introduced to real books, but rather a device that they can read on. Because the technological reading devices are seen as “cooler” in the eyes of children, I can see future youth pushing real books aside and turning to the more “in” method of reading.
ReplyDeleteI am so so sad that Barns and Nobel is closing! I love book stores. Since I was little, like 3 and 4 I have been going to book stores like Barnes and Nobel, Schulers Books, and Pooh's Corner with my parents and my grandparents. I can remember getting so excited about taking a trip to Pooh's Corner, a small children's book store in the Mall by my house, with my grandpa. I wouldn't always get to buy a book, but we would spend lots of time looking around and reading some of the stories. Today I study all the time at Barns and Nobel. I love the atmosphere there and I often take breaks from studying to borrows the books or magazines. I believe that these closings are going to have a great effect on children's feelings and interactions with literature. It makes me sad that other children will not have the opportunity to have the tangible experience with literature that many of us had.
ReplyDeleteI have also been upset about how many big chain bookstores have been closing down. I have always loved going t the bookstore and browsing through many books in order to choose which one I wanted to read next. The Internet is making this whole experience completely different. Online I feel like you have to know a specific book to search for but in the book store you can come across books you have never heard of before. I think it is really sad that the next generation might not have this experience because most of the books can be read on e readers or bought on the Internet. I also think it is important to be able to physically hold a book in your hand and flip through pictures in a book rather than scanning pages on the internet. I think that the electronic books are not realistic for classrooms because in public schools there is no way that there will be a budget for each student to have an e reader. Without books stores and libraries it will be a lot harder for children to have access to reading materials.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this post, and comments. I was at home this weekend, and was searching for a book for a class, and had to call stores all around the state to find it. However, the first place I looked for it was my local Borders, which has been boarded up, and closed, along with the rest of the chain. I got kind of sentimental when I pulled up to the vacant building because I have wasted so many hours sitting in their comfortable chairs with books I stumble upon. I would often go in for one book, and end up finding several more that I wanted to browse through. I am not an owner of a kindle, a nook, or any other electronic reader, and do not have any desire to jump on the bandwagon any time soon. I see the advantages to it in the sense that instead of having an unorganized stack of books, they are all kept in a tiny electronic system for you. It also ensures that as long as you keep track of your kindle, you will never lose your books. However I think that it will begin to rob our future generations of the bookstore experience we all had growing up. They will never get lost in the rows of books, or spend time away from all the noise doing homework at a Barnes and Noble. Reading is one of the few facets of life that still allow me to escape from technology, and I am scared for our futures if our entire lives are taking place hooked up to electronics.
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